His comments followed last week’s trial of Chelsea captain John Terry , when foul-mouthed exchanges on the pitch were revealed.

‘I do know a little bit about this because I’m a qualified football referee. I’ve been at the receiving end of it and I do think that it has gone too far,’ Mr Hunt said.

‘I would like to see the football authorities do more because I think we just have to recognise that football has huge influence on thousands and thousands of young people and we do need footballers to set an example.’

Terry, 31, was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence but both he and Anton Ferdinand could still be charged by the FA for bringing the game into disrepute.

The saga rolled on over the weekend when Anton’s brother Rio defended a tweet in which he appeared to endorse the use of the perceived racist term ‘choc ice’ in reference to Ashley Cole.